Darkroom 2: The Lightroom Alternative for iPhone

I download a lot of photo editing apps, and as I mentioned, I only stick to two. I installed Darkroom 2 a while ago and forgot about it.

I decided to take it for a spin the other day and was pleasantly surprised.

Like most editing apps, Darkroom 2 has image enhancing tools along with some free built-in filters.

Darkroom 2 Pro Kit

However, when buying Pro Kit, which is a $5.99 in-app purchase, the app becomes a serious mobile editing contender.

Similar to Lightroom, Pro Kit features a curves editor, a split tone tool, the ability to create, edit and share your own filters, and the feature I love most: being able to adjust the hue, saturation and luminance of each colour seperately.

One of my favourite features is being able to swipe through photos on my camera roll while editing them. This is made possible by the iOS library integration.

This powerful little app has quickly become part of my workflow.

Below is an image straight out of camera.

I tune and sharpen my images in Snapseed. The edits are minor. I like keeping it subtle.

Then I open it in Darkroom 2 and adjust the hue, saturation and luminance. I desaturated the pavement in the background, and I enhanced the colours on the pigeons.

Finally, I use VSCO to add a subtle filter before posting to Instagram.

This powerful Lightroom alternative has earned its place on my iPhone’s home screen. Even though I only use it to adjust colour settings.